Lawsuit brings Mills' eligibility into question

By Monty Phan

Arizona Daily Wildcat

According to a copyrighted report in yesterday's Arizona Daily Star, a lawsuit filed by Raymond Fisher, a Los Angeles business manager, alleges that former Arizona basketball player Chris Mills and his father, Claud, failed to pay back a $17,500 loan made to the family while Chris was at the university.

The Star article states that Fisher was under the assumption the loan would serve as part of an arrangement that would have Fisher represent Chris once the player turned professional. If this is true, the Star states, it is an NCAA rule violation.

The report made clear that the UA is not mentioned in the suit, and that no one at the university was aware of the loan.

The news story also states that if the allegations are true, Chris may have been ineligible to play the last 24 games of the 1992-93 season.

"We're going to prepare a statement that is saying we have asked the Pac-10 to look into this," senior associate athletic director Kathleen "Rocky" LaRose said to the Wildcat. "We've followed all the

correct procedures. Certainly Jim (Livengood, director of athletics) has notified all the people that need to be notified. The good news is we're glad to hear the university and the athletic department were not mentioned in the suit in any way.

"We just felt like we needed to go externally, have someone externally look at the situation, and we've asked the Pac-10 to do that. They have agreed to do that. At this point we've put it into the Pac-10's hands and let them look at the situation. They'll do a thorough job."

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